During this time he was represented in part by a young white paralegal named Judy van Vuuren. They began a personal relationship while he remained in prison, and soon after his release, in 1990, they married.

After his release, Sexwale returned to Johannesburg, where he served as head of the public liaison department of the African National Congress Headquarters. He was subsequently appointed the head of special projects, reporting to the ANC's military headquarters. In September 1990, he was elected as a member of the executive committee of the ANC in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (PWV) region. He became the chairperson of the ANC in the PWV region in 1991, a position he held until his resignation in late 1997.

After the South African elections in April 1994, Sexwale was elected as the first premier of the new PWV Province (renamed Gauteng Province in December 1994). In this role, he was credited with bringing peace to several politically volatile townships. Sexwale left politics for the corporate sector in 1998. The reasons for this was never made completely clear, but was reportedly due to feeling stifled by central government restrictions as well as becoming exhausted by internal African National Congress intrigues.[citation needed] Further speculation is that Tokyo left politics due to strong disagreements with the then Vice-President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki.[citation needed] Other speculation is that his marriage opened business opportunities in the white-dominated financial sectors that allowed him opportunities not open to other black leaders.[citation needed] Tokyo Sexwale, Cyril Ramaphosa and Thabo Mbeki were possible candidates jostling for the presidency after Nelson Mandela stepped down. Once Thabo Mbeki appeared as the favourite candidate, both Sexwale and Ramaphosa left politics to follow successful careers as businessmen.

On 7 January 2007, The Sunday Times reported that Sexwale was campaigning for a leadership position within the ANC, which would have put him in position to replace Thabo Mbeki as President of South Africa in 2009. Sexwale admitted on BBC's Hard Talk that if asked to stand for the elections as party president by structures of the ANC, he would seriously consider it.[2] He was elected to the ANC's 80-member National Executive Committee in December 2007 in 10th place, with 2,198 votes.[3]

On 10 May 2009, President Jacob Zuma appointed Sexwale as Minister of Human Settlements,[4] a ministry which replaced the Department of Housing.

In particular, Sexwale has become a major player in the diamond industry, with his company reportedly being the third biggest after De Beers and JFPI Corporation. He was praised by no less a figure than Harry Oppenheimer, the patriarch of the Anglo-American and De Beers corporations, as having an understanding of the South African and international diamond mining industry that few can equal.

Sexwale also chairs companies such as the Trans Hex Group Ltd. and Northam Platinum Ltd.; in addition, he is a director of companies such as Absa Group Limited, Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd. (more commonly known as Altech) and Gold Fields Ltd. (the latter two positions are non-executive).

He is also known as a philanthropist and is a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Global Philanthropists Circle of the Synergos Institute, the Business Trust and the Robben Island Ex-Prisoners Trust. Furthermore, he is a patron of societies such as Johannesburg Child and Family Welfare Society, Streetwise South Africa (an organisation dedicated to assisting street children), Save the Family Fund (catering for families and communities ravaged by apartheid violence) and The Sky is No Limit (which aims to expose disadvantaged youths to hi-tech education in computers and aviation).

In 2005, he hosted the South African version of the reality game show The Apprentice.

Upon leaving the public sector, Sexwale founded Mvelaphanda Holdings (mvelaphanda is the Venda word for "progress"), a company of which he is still executive chairman. Mvelaphanda is primarily focused on the mining, energy and related sectors. Some of Sexwale's main interests are oil and diamond mining, for which he has been granted concessions across Africa and Russia; these interests are controlled by a subsidiary of Mvelaphanda Holdings called Mvelaphanda Resources, of which he is chairman.

Through his Mvelaphanda Group Tokyo Sexwale has substantial holdings in the mining sector. He is currently discussing with the Kazakh-owned Eurasian National Resources Corporation a plan to buy into mining interests in Guinea. A negotiating team is in secret talks about financing a local mining company to be owned by the Guinean state.[5]

The new mining code, drafted by advisers to the Guinean President Alpha Condé, would grant the new state entity a free 15% stake in Guinea’s mining projects, with the option to buy another 20%. Tokyo Sexwale was a business partner with Alpha Condé even before Condé became president.[6]

In January 2008 OZ Management, Mvelaphanda (Mvela) Holdings and Walter Hennig’s Palladino Holdings announced the creation of a new joint venture, Africa Management Limited.[8] As part of the joint venture, Africa Management Limited established African Global Capital, as a vehicle for investment in both the private and public markets across Africa, focusing on natural resources and related opportunities.[8] Tokyo Sexwale said: "We intend to build on our already strong foothold in African investments in partnership with Och-Ziff. The partnership with Och-Ziff in African Global Capital will help us accelerate in building the leading African investment firm."[8]

He was mentioned as a possible candidate for Deputy President of the African National Congress in 2007. In September 2007 he announced his candidacy for the ANC Presidential nomination at the party convention in Polokwane. Prior to the convention, he withdrew his nomination and backed then Deputy President - Jacob Zuma. He did not stand for the Deputy Presidency as certain media speculation expected,[citation needed] the post eventually going to Kgalema Motlanthe. In 2009, he was appointed as Minister of Human Settlements by President Jacob Zuma having previously been touted as a possible Foreign Affairs or Defense Minister.

Sexwale was nominated as Kgalema Motlanthe's Deputy Presidential running mate on 2 October 2012 by various regions in the Eastern Cape, the ruling party's second largest branch. The African National Congress Youth League also indicated that it would back Sexwale for the Deputy Presidency at the ANC's leadership election Manguang, Free State. On 18 December 2012, Sexwale was defeated for the post of Deputy President, coming in last place he received 463 votes while Cyril Ramaphosa received 3 018 votes and Mathews Phosa received 470 votes.

His nickname of "Tokyo" is derived from his involvement with the sport of karate as a youth.

Sexwale has two children by a first wife, and two children by his second wife, Judy van Vuuren, a paralegal he met on Robben Island. Following his financial success, he moved into the previously predominantly white suburb of Illovo with his family.

Three days after the death of Nelson Mandela, on 8 December 2013, Sexwale appeared at a prayer service in Houghton, South Africa, where he heralded President Mandela as the "purest of the purest good" and encouraged everyone to learn from his example: "His method was that of solving a society's most impractical problems through talking and engaging." .[9]

In 2001 Sexwale was accused, along with Cyril Ramaphosa and Mathews Phosa, of plotting to depose President Thabo Mbeki.[10] Sexwale denied the charges and all three received the backing of Nelson Mandela; they were later exonerated from all accusations.

In 2002, he was refused a visa to enter the United States, which kept him from attending the listing of Gold Fields (a company in which he holds a 15 percent stake) on the New York Stock Exchange. It later transpired that he, along with many prominent South African anti-apartheid figures such as Nelson Mandela and South African cabinet minister Sidney Mufamadi, were still on that country's list of global terrorists.[11] After initiating legal action, going so far as to having papers served on the U.S. Department of State and following personal intervention by Condoleezza Rice, Sexwale and the others received ten-year waivers from the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Homeland Security, as the government felt that permanently delisting them would mean changing the law, which would be a lengthy process.[12] In April 2008 the waiver was lifted and the ANC members along with the ANC were removed from the terrorist list in the USA.

In 2005, Sexwale was roundly criticized for being "indecisive" during the live finale of the South African version of The Apprentice, which he fronted on SABC3. Both finalists, Zanele Batyashe, 24, and Khomotso Choma, 34, were hired in the finale which aired 22 September.[13][14][15]

A further black mark against Sexwale is the appearance of his name in a United Nations report on illegal transactions under the Oil-for-Food Programme.[16]

In July 2009 Sexwale was criticized by some civil society organizations and academics for what they called 'publicity stunts'[19] as well as for accusing protesting communities of fomenting 'anarchy' and threatened 'zero tolerance' against protesters 'acting under other flags.'[20][21][22]

On 28 October 2013, the ANC demanded an apology after Sexwale was held at a US airport because he was on a terrorist watchlist.[23]

Sexwale is leading a group of South Africans who have devised a plan to take over mineral assets and mining concessions in the republic of Guinea, which the Guinean government plans to renationalize after revoking deals struck by previous governments in power.[24] Sexwale is discussing a plan with ENRC to buy into mining interests in Guinea.[24]

The deal comprised a loan of US$25 million to the Guinean government to finance the start-up of a new Guinean state mining company.[24] Behind Walter Hennig and the $25 million loan agreement, are Sexwale; Mark Willcox, the chief executive of Mvelaphanda Group, and several other businessmen of South African, Polish, and British extraction. One of them is Ian Hannam a famous London banker who tried to arrange Rusal’s float on the London Stock Exchange in 2007, but failed.[24]

The loan deal is now tipped for a potential investigation by the World Bank which would look into whether the loan was actually intended to finance a new state-mining company, as outlined in the contract, or to benefit political or individual interests in return for mining concessions.[26]

Mahmoud Thiam, the former Guinean mining minister and political opponent of President Alpha Condé, claimed that Tokyo Sexwale "was angry with the president because he was not delivering on his promises" and that Tokyo was funding the president's election campaign through the loan deal.[27]

On 16 July 2012 the Russian publication Аргументы и Факты (Argumenty I Fakty, Arguments and Facts) reported that Walter Hennig, through Palladino Capital 2, made a series of payments totalling $25 million to the Guinean president's son, Mohammed Condé.[28] The payments were made by Walter Hennig from an account held in Turks and Caicos into an offshore account held by Mohammed Condé in Monaco.[28]

The money was originally lent by Walter Hennig’s offshore company, Palladino Capital 2, in order to start the state mining company but various news articles have cited anonymous sources who have claimed that the US$25 million was never reflected in the country’s accounts.[26] When faced with these accusations, Sexwale has declined to comment personally and instead has released statements through his spokesperson Xolani Xundu that he would not confirm or deny any of the claims from "faceless sources".[29]

Sexwale holds positions in many international organisations, such as President of the South African/Russian Business, Technological and Cultural Association and Vice President of the South African/Japanese Business Forum. He is also an Honorary Consul General of Finland in South Africa.